The newspaper subsequently went out of business which stopped the libel action.

N.B.Y.

Regarding the McCanns suing a Portuguese news paper, I'm just reading an article in the Daily Telegraph titled "The McCanns Drop Libel Case Against Portuguese Newspaper." The name of the newspaper was "Tal & Qual"

According to the article, the McCanns were advised to drop the action, because the newspaper had a strong defence under Portuguese law.

Sorry about the long post, but quite interesting re suing Tal & Qual. Thanks to McCannfiles, as ever.

McCanns announce they are going to sue Tal&Qual - The Background

Tal&Qual front page

McCanns are furious after reports they killed Madeleine with sedatives Daily Mail

By Sam GreenhillLast updated at 17:15pm on 25th August 2007

The family of Madeleine McCann were furious after a Portuguese newspaper claimed on its front page that police think she was killed by her parents.

The missing girl's normally mild-mannered father Gerry could barely contain his anger at the smear, which accused him and his wife Kate of accidentally killing their daughter with an overdose of sedatives.

He also hit out at anonymous police sources behind the whispering campaign being waged against the couple, signalling that their relations with detectives have sunk to a new low.

In a wide-ranging interview with British newspapers including the Daily Mail, Mr McCann also said he is considering going back to his job as a consultant cardiologist but his wife could not yet face returning to her GP work.

The couple, from Rothley, Leicestershire, do not rule out having another child but Mr McCann said they had not considered doing so and stressed that nothing could replace Madeleine. I'd wondered why this wasn't often aired, I'm sure it may have been part of the wide agenda.

It is 114 days since she vanished from her bed in the McCanns' holiday apartment in Praia da Luz while her parents ate tapas with friends in a nearby restaurant.

The McCanns, both 39, have remained in the Algarve with their two- year-old twins Sean and Amelie, clinging to the hope that Madeleine will be found alive.

But in the past three weeks there has been a noticeable shift in the police investigation, with detectives saying they think Madeleine is probably dead. It has led to a tide of wild speculation in the Portuguese media about her fate, and the McCanns have had to endure innuendo implying that they or their friends were somehow involved in her disappearance.

Inside, the paper alleged Madeleine died as a result of an overdose of sedatives given to help her sleep. The McCanns, both doctors, have consistently denied giving their children any such medication.

Tal & Qual - which translates as "The way it is" - claimed Portuguese detectives "are almost absolutely certain that Madeleine was killed by accident by her parents".

The paper attributed its scoop to an anonymous source close to the investigation and even went on to speculate about the sort of prison sentences someone might get for the crimes of homicide by negligence, and hiding a body.

After learning of the story, Mr McCann was initially speechless, then said: "It's incredibly hurtful and incredibly untrue.

"Even if somebody could think that, there is just absolutely no evidence pointing in that direction.

"Without anything else, what that implies is that we somehow did it, we did it together, managed to dispose of Madeleine without a car, without anything, that the whole group was involved, that there must have been other people involved ... It is just so absurd, it is just not credible.

"But we will come through it. We will not stop and it will move on. My opinion of what has happened has not changed in 16 weeks.

"We know our facts, we know what we did. It does not bear any resemblance to this wild speculation."

Mr McCann made a blistering attack on anonymous police sources who have been feeding allegations to the Portuguese press, apparently in breach of the country's strict "secrecy of justice" laws preventing details of investigations being aired publicly.

He said: "I am disappointed that so much information is in the public domain in a country that supposedly has judicial secrecy.

"There have been whispers. There's either judicial secrecy or there's not.

"I would be perfectly happy if they said, 'Right, there is going to be nothing coming out anywhere', but that hasn't happened.

"You can't have it both ways. For Kate and I, it's an ongoing trauma and that in itself is incredibly hard.

"The wild speculation we have seen recently is detrimental. Ultimately there is an innocent four-year-old girl missing here. Some people do forget that is what this is about."

Until now, the McCanns have voiced strong support for the investigation, despite private concerns, but have been dismayed at the new direction the police investigation is taking.

The couple have several reasons for believing Madeleine was abducted, including that her favourite Cuddle Cat toy was placed by someone on a high ledge out of her reach and that one of their friends saw a man walking away from the apartment with what looked like a child in his arms.We're way past the 3rd May and here is the non existent ledge again! Plus egg/bundle man of course. Tal & Qual stood by its story.

The journalist who wrote it, Catarina Vaz Guerreiro, said: "I can't reveal my source but I have complete trust in them. I strongly believe the person that told us this information is telling us the truth."

But Portuguese media commentators said Tal & Qual was a "very bad sensational tabloid" not known for having good police sources.

The story was also dismissed by Portuguese police, who said it had "no authority".

Today, Mr McCann is due to be a guest speaker at the Edinburgh International Television Festival.??? that well-known media person ??

Thanks tigger, it is interesting and a shame the owner did not have the opportunity to defend the claim, it would have been interesting to know just what the PJ had that was so damaging to Kate McCann.

I remember reading a long time ago that Gerry had replaced a faulty fridge in 5a which the owner said was working O.K. when he let the Villa.

Someone sent me an article from facebook where Crimestoppers were asking for help from anyone who had information about the McCanns. There were several responses mostly negative about rthe McCanns , but this one is interesting:-

Paul Rees Remember on Gerry McCann's blog where he wrote he disposed of a broken fridge at a dump, then replaced it? It was seen as dead suss at the time as it would be the villa owner's responsibility then he deleted all mention of it from his blog and his supporters denied all knowledge of a broken fridge. As luck would have it, I was perusing the police files yesterday and it's mentioned by David Payne, proving its existence, so I hope the Met are exploring what happened to it. "Err the, I know that, you know Kate and Gerry had had problems err with the fridge in their flat" #mccann - Dr Payne www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/​DAVID-PAYNE-ROGATORY.htm" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://​www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/​DAVID-PAYNE-ROGATORY.htm

Yesterday at 3:14am ·

So......why would the McCanns need to dispose of a Fridge?

Ok, looking at the 'fridge' from a different perspective.

It is would be the responsibility of the landlord to replace any items that hadn't been brought in by the tenant when they took up the let however in this instance, it would depend on the whether the landlord was informed the fridge was no longer working and requested the McCanns simply replace it and place the invoice in the post for example.

I can't recall where the landlord originated from however this has to be taken into account with regards to this issue. IF he/she was located elsewhere then surely it would be far easier to request the occupants replace the fridge than for the landlord to arrange this ?

Fern

Forum Addict

Number of posts : 515Age : 46Location : Either in or on the Irish SeaWarning :

Although possible, personally I cant imagine a landlord asking a holiday couple to go and replace the fridge themselves, I would have thought if it was reported that the landlord would have said he would come roundand sort it out, or if he wasnt in the vicinity I would have thought he would know of someone in the vicinity who he could send round to replace the fridge.

As a landlord, if the properties I owned were located outside of the UK and I had a tenant in on let and there was a problem with a fridge, I would speak to them firstly to evaluate the problem and should it be beyond repair then I would agree to replace it with a new fridge.

The difference I guess is that I'd not consider the 'rental' for the McCanns in the villa where they stayed from July to Sept the same as the week or so they stayed in 5A.

Fern

Forum Addict

Number of posts : 515Age : 46Location : Either in or on the Irish SeaWarning :

The Witness Account: "I drive down this street every day to turn my car around at that end and every time that I passed the house and I looked at the car, the car always had an open boot door, day or night. I often passed at night and always verified it. It was a fact, I reported it and that was it".

This is the statement made by a lawyer, a very credible eyewitness, who lived in the same street as the McCann's, when they moved to their villa.

She was never heard by the PJ, because her deposition was considered not to be relevant.

The McCann's relatives soon start to make claims that they had transported meat from the supermarket in July 2007, which had leaked blood in their car boot.

How did the McCann's and their family hear about this witness, when she was never allowed to give her deposition?

Rebelo already knew by that stage that body fluids with 15 markers matching to Madeleine, had been found in that same boot. Yet he chose to ignore this woman, I wonder why?.

We looked at a few facts about the hire of the Renault Scenic above. Now we look at the following extract from Michael Wright’s synopsis: “On a number of occasions he [Michael Wright] noticed an unpleasant smell in the vehicle that he put down to the twins used nappies which had been discarded with the general waste. He was not aware of any spillages in the vehicle or anyone cleaning it”.

Given these statements, it is more than passing interest that a neighbour of the McCanns observed that ‘the back door of the Renault Scenic was left open all night long’ - presumably to get rid of the smell? It is hardly likely that the McCanns would have left ‘rotting meat’ and ‘dirty nappies’ in the back of the car for long enough for the smell to remain. Smells like that would be washed away with a good clean. The smell of human cadaverine, however, once it attaches to an item, can linger for years.

It is interesting that he uses the term ‘unpleasant smell’. As a mature adult, he would surely know what kind of smells resulted from ‘rotting meat’ and ‘dirty nappies’. But he doesn’t say the car smelt of either of these. He talks about an ‘unpleasant smell’ - and one that clearly lingered a long time, being noticed ‘on several occasions’. Incidentally though Michael Wright claims that he was not aware of the car ever being cleaned, there is evidence that another relative, Sandy Cameron, was seen cleaning it on several occasions. Clearly it was a most unusual smell. Could it have been the ‘smell of death’ detected by Eddie, the cadaver dog?

Quite why dirty nappies should smell that much is a puzzle anyway, assuming that the McCanns do whatever other parents do, namely, fold the nappies up and put them away in a sealable polythene bag ready for disposal.

It may reasonably asked why Michael Wright would mention the unpleasant smell at all. There are perhaps two reasons why he did so. Either he never knew that Madeleine’s body may have been transported in the Scenic, i.e. it was all done entirely without his knowledge, and he just honestly volunteered to the Portuguese police that there was a funny smell in the car, or he may have been actively helping the McCanns with the disposal of Madeleine’s body (or known about it and been involved in the subsequent cover-up) by putting up a false reason for the smell in the car - or, shall we say, a reason why Eddie the cadaver dog might ‘alert’ to a smell in that car.

One blogger wrote the following about the ‘smell of death’: “For anyone who has never smelt it, the smell of a decaying body can never be mistaken. It cannot and will never be mistaken for anything else. It is a sweet, sickly, gas like smell, nothing remotely like butchered rotting meat or dirty nappies. Anyone who has ever successfully used rodent poison under their floor will (a few days later) have had a taste of what a decaying whole body smells of. Once smelt, never forgotten”.

One suggestion made is that Dr Gerry McCann and Michael Wright may have deliberately placed dirty nappies and rotten meat in the car to modify and cover the cadaver scent.

Another possibility is simply that during the voluntary questioning of him, the British detective asked him if he noticed an unpleasant smell, agreed that he had done, and simply did his best by putting forward an explanation as to what might have been the cause of the bad smell.

The explanation for so many trips to the rubbish dump centred around garden waste. But as we saw above, the idea that the McCanns were able to find time for gardening seems unlikely, as of course was the necessity for Dr Kate McCann to wash the holiday curtains. What other holidaymakers need to wash their holiday curtains?

I remember reading a long time ago that Gerry had replaced a faulty fridge in 5a which the owner said was working O.K. when he let the Villa.

Someone sent me an article from facebook where Crimestoppers were asking for help from anyone who had information about the McCanns. There were several responses mostly negative about rthe McCanns , but this one is interesting:-

Paul Rees Remember on Gerry McCann's blog where he wrote he disposed of a broken fridge at a dump, then replaced it? It was seen as dead suss at the time as it would be the villa owner's responsibility then he deleted all mention of it from his blog and his supporters denied all knowledge of a broken fridge. As luck would have it, I was perusing the police files yesterday and it's mentioned by David Payne, proving its existence, so I hope the Met are exploring what happened to it. "Err the, I know that, you know Kate and Gerry had had problems err with the fridge in their flat" #mccann - Dr Payne www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/​DAVID-PAYNE-ROGATORY.htm" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://​www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/​DAVID-PAYNE-ROGATORY.htm

Yesterday at 3:14am ·

So......why would the McCanns need to dispose of a Fridge?

Ok, looking at the 'fridge' from a different perspective.

It is would be the responsibility of the landlord to replace any items that hadn't been brought in by the tenant when they took up the let however in this instance, it would depend on the whether the landlord was informed the fridge was no longer working and requested the McCanns simply replace it and place the invoice in the post for example.

I can't recall where the landlord originated from however this has to be taken into account with regards to this issue. IF he/she was located elsewhere then surely it would be far easier to request the occupants replace the fridge than for the landlord to arrange this ?

Yes, I agree, if the Landlord lived in the U.K. for example, but usually Apartment owners who rent out Properties employ an Agent for a fee to deal withBookings, replacing items , like a Fridge which breaks down etc . Since end of April would not be the height of the Season maybe the Owner had spent time in the Villa before it was rented to the McCanns and there was nothing wrong with the Fridge then,

I hope that SY dont get cold feet about asking the Mccans about the fridge, even thoughit may bring about a cold chill to the air! Perhaps GM may become frozen with fear trying to comeup with a credible believable answer! He may be skating on thin ice!

Thanks cherry1....I love it when you clever Members find all this stuff....I wouldn't have a clue where to start.

I seem to remember reading that Rebelo was brought in to "tidy things up" and that he dictated the line of questioning of the Tapas 9 when they wentto Leicester Police Station. I never read such inane questions the Leicester Police asked so maybe they were meant to be that way .

Certainly seems that Rebello was the guy used to try and sweep things under the carpet and the LP interviews were a joke to say the least. Basic policing dictates that you would re-interview again and again and ask detailed questions about all the contradictions and discrepancies and the way they were conducted by the police officers they shouldnt have even got through their police training if that was the best they could do! Were they under instructions from GB perhaps to just go through the motions!

Certainly seems that Rebello was the guy used to try and sweep things under the carpet and the LP interviews were a joke to say the least. Basic policing dictates that you would re-interview again and again and ask detailed questions about all the contradictions and discrepancies and the way they were conducted by the police officers they shouldnt have even got through their police training if that was the best they could do! Were they under instructions from GB perhaps to just go through the motions!

I'm convinced the questions were deliberately unprofessional, such as "which Airport did you fly from", ......nothing about trying to clarify their Statements made in Portugal. Mind you, the answers were equally as bad, you would never think they were from Professional people .!!!

The car, if left with an open boot day and night would be full of insects each morning and maybe the smell of a feral tomcat. So why put up with that unless the need was greater than these complications.